Paradox of Violent Video Games Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Paradox of Violent Video Games - Research Paper Example The incident at Colorado phoenix theatre is still a fresh news item in which, a gunman turned the new Batman movie into areal horror. In this particular incident, 12 people died on the spot with 58 other surviving with serious injuries. The three incidents indicate how people are willing and ready to turn fiction into reality. Although such incidents have a political or social motivation, violent video games play a significant role in motivating such killers. For instance, Tristan had been playing Call on duty: Modern warfare 2 before he went on a shooting spree. These are isolated cases of violence resulting or inspired by violent video games. It is a paradox that violent video games inspire people into becoming saviors. This essay will, therefore, analyze the paradox of violent video games in relation to violence and mass murder. There have been intensive studies on the effects of video games in promoting acts of violence among teenagers. Studies in this field have attracted variou s people particularly sociologists and psychologists attempting to find links between the video games and acts of violence, particularly among teenagers. Concentration on teenagers is necessitated by the fact that teenagers are the main consumers of violent video games and researchers are interested in analyzing the correlation between playing violent video games and engaging in real violence. Studies completed in 2002 at the concluded that violent video games did not motivate people to indulge in real acts of violence.  ... It is a contradiction that violent video games addicts do not commit real violence. In fact, all the recent cases of shooting rampage have a political or social motivation Flew (Terry and Humphreys 211). Police are currently investigating the Colorado incident to unearth the motives behind the killings. However, other cases such as the Oslo shootings had a political motivation. For instance, Breivick complained that Norway was increasingly becoming a multicultural and Islamic state. The gunman claimed the authorities were to blame for the acts. These incidents disassociate violence particularly mass murder with violent video games. The paradox of video games in relation to acts of violence depicts rivalry that exists between media and producers of video games. Media and video games are complementary pastime activities and hence they have conflict of interest. According to Shaw, the video game industry has become a soft target to the media and entertainment industry, which consider it as a rival (121). From the author’s argument, association of video games and real violence is a tool applied by media houses to win the entertainment market. This is an expected phenomenon considering that both industries target the same audience. Recent meta-analysis conducted on 130, 000 subjects concluded that violent video games induced short-term aggression and antisocial behaviour. Although the studies have a significant value of truth, they are subject to criticism and misinterpretation. For instance, the tests did not consider the sanity or the mental health of the subjects (Davis 123). In addition, the tests did not consider exposure to other triggers such as physical